Philadelphia - 5mi

River run, split in two with 3 quick circuits at Waterworks on the way home.

Trondheim - wakeup run

Woke up at 6.30 and went out for a cold, wet, slow, miserable run. Gave up after about 20 minutes and turned around because it was just too miserable. It did wake me up at least ...

Trondheim - 10K

OK. Back to metric. And hills. Ugh.

Ran a decent 10K out-and-back in Trondheim after DBPL ended for the day. Was trying to get into the big greenbelt, but couldn't find the way off the road that hugs the harbor.

Oxford -OUVC

Played 2hrs with the Oxford boys again. Good fun again.

Oxford - Volleyball, 3mi Isis run

Trained with the Oxford NVL team. A good session with some actual coaching and drills. Well missed.

Ran a quick 3mi along the Isis (Thames) towpath this morning.

Oxford - Beach Vball

I guess this is an everything blog.

No running. Met up with Paul, a friend from Dublin who is now one of the OUVC middles. Went to an old RAF base where they've converted an old hangar into a quite nice indoor sand court about 30 minutes outside of Oxford. We played for 3 hours. I don't have sand legs so it was all thwack! (that's the sound of the ball hitting the tape) or cuts/rolls shots. But still good fun.

Cambridge - Volleyball with CVC

Played (and won) some 2s with Jacquet. We couldn't be stopped :-)

Then had to run to catch the bus to Oxford. I haven't decided if this is just going to be a running blog or an everything blog.

Cambridge - ~11mi

Ugh. Now I know what absolutely knackered means. Ran Parker's Piece -> Grantchester -> Parker's Piece -> A14 motorway bridge -> Parker's Piece. To bed with me.

Cambridge - 6mi

A beautiful, rain-soaked run out to the A14 motorway bridge and back. Tous les animaux (cows, ducks, swans, this boy) were out enjoying the drizzle. The only snag: I had a beer at the Computer Lab happy hour and cramped up a bit on the way out. Beer before running is not recommended.

Cambridge - ~3mi

DV wanted to run, so we had to keep the distance short.

Just did the old railroad bridge loop.

DV had to stop on the way home, so I got to kick the last 1.5 miles fast. Short runs are fun.

Cambridge - ~7mi

Wherein we change to Imperial units.

Absolutely knackered. Realized I only have a few days here (have to get to Oxford on Sunday night) so I'll only get to do my favorite Cam runs once each. Decided to knock out the beast first, while my legs are still fresh. Ran all the way out to the Baitsbite lock, about 7 miles... unlike Germany, which had all those helpful Km signs, distances on the Cam are hard to judge, but going by boat club pages + guestimates, I think that's about right.

Didn't get to run at all in Prague, unfortunately. There were some nice paths by the river. But didn't want to leave my PowerBook at the hostel so I had to carry it around with me everywhere.

Last day, last 10K

Final day in Marktoberdorf. I wanted to get up early to run first thing, but couldn't manage it. The Necula and Hofmann lectures were both excellent... I skipped the final Harrison lecture so I could do the Fechsen loop one last time. Kept a good pace, gave directions to a cyclist (I know the area pretty well now, having spent that day getting so lost!)

Off to Prague in a few minutes. I'll miss this loop but next week is Cambridge!! Back to some of my favorite runs: the Fen Ditton and motorway bridge loops.

Marktoberdorf 10K

Did the same 10K loop. It may be the perfect run. 3K of rolling hills out to the lake, 1K of difficult hills up to Zum Kindler, then 1K down to the intersection at the rail tracks, then a flat 5K back to Marktoberdorf. I started really slow today (was incredibly sore from climbling---Wojtek is a fast hiker and we were basically running UP the mountain at points yesterday so my ass hurts). But 1/2-way through the Zum Kindler hill, started to kick it and kept the pace up all the way home. Felt good.

0K

I didn't run today. We went hiking on the Fellhorn. It was a perfect day with sunny skies and crisp air. We had dinner at a nice restaurant on the top and the evening sun was magnificent on the mountains. The pictures almost do it justice.

10K

Successfully completed the loop I tried to do last time. Did 10K, slowly. Absolutely beautiful day. Could see the Alps really clearly... the pictures should show what a nice day it was :)

Ugh. Sick Running

Throat is all scratchy, but the weather was warmer today, so I decided to do a quick 3 miles at sunset. Drinking OJ by the gallon, but need to find some of those wonderful European fizzy vitamin supplements.

Marktoberdorf free day

No lectures today so I had time to try a new loop. Only ran a little more than 5K before I got lost and afraid I was going in the wrong direction. I started by going down towards the pond, up the hills, around the bends with the farms as usual. Then instead of looping back I tried to follow the road back to Marktoberdorf. Discovered an amazing small village: just a few houses/farms, a church, and maybe one store. Followed a farm lane that looked like it would take me back to the city. The road kept getting smaller and smaller, then turned to dirt, then turned to dirt with a strip of grass down the middle, then turned into just a lane worn in heavy grass, then disappeared. Near the end I was at a barn, literally in the middle of a field, with about 30 cows with the same Alpen bells all ringing. As I approached, they all turned their heads and stared at me. Then started walking towards me. Then running and mooing. I just kept walking ahead... Had to dash across a wet field to get back to a road and then discovered I'd been totally turned around. Marktoberdorf was about 10K away (saw the church on the hill). Walked back along a path by the railtracks, cold and wet, and finally back to the Gymnasium (relieved that it was indeed Marktoberdorf and not some other random village.

Marktoberdorf

Ran 6K yesterday (tight on time so I had to stop at the pond).

My body clock was all messed up, so I went to bed at 9pm last night. Then woke up at 6.15 and hit the road immediately. Ran the 8K up to the ridge (which killed me) and to the T-intersection at the farms. Kicked it pretty hard on the way home though which felt good. The highlight today was hearing dozens of cowbells from a field hidden by a ridge. And then running by a coop of chickens and hearing about 10 cocks crowing. Amazing!

Ridge running

Ran the same loop in Marktoberdorf.

Catching up

This post is for my single loyal reader, Xavi (freak! how can this possibly be interesting?)

I've been running a lot but never blogging. I can't remember all the way back to the beginning of June.

Two weeks ago, I played volleyball 3 days and ran to Leif on 2.

In Haverhill last week, I did 2X 5mi runs, 2X 3mi runs, one trip to the gym in Woodsville for 30min elliptical + Nautilis and on 4 days, ye olde jump circuits (jump rope, block jumps, attack jumps, calf raises). I was stressed out and it was a good way to work through things.

Played 2hrs grass volleyball on Friday with Matt, Klara, and Chris.

My legs were exhausted and I took 3 days off (damn trail was closed in Philly on Monday, then flying to Marktoberdorf).

Today I did a long run on fresh legs: 8K today in Marktoberdorf through beautiful Bavarian farmland. There was a beautiful stand of pines that reminded me of a Caspar David Friedrich painting.